Modern basketball shoes are required to be both lightweight and extremely flexible because of the range and speed of motions arising in use.
An example of basketball shoe design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. DES 262,751 issued to Wolf Anderie. The shoe includes a high-top upper having a cushioning portion commencing just below the ankle and extending over the lower portion of the leg at the ankle opening. Various other constructions are now in the art, ranging from an essentially unitary sheet panel covering the entire upper portion of the shoe, to diverse arrangements of textile sheet portions and leather reinforcement portions so as to firmly accommodate for allowing a proper distribution of stresses within. A common need of all such designs is to provide adequate support to the foot of the wearer so as to prevent strains which can result from excess movement of the various joints of the foot from the normal orientation. As a practical matter, this end cannot be fully achieved because of the competing demands of shoe flexibility and light weight, on the one hand, and the desirability to provide full support, on the other hand. Thus, athletes generally tape their feet to provide additional support when playing strenuous games. Various support structures for shoes and boots generally are well known, such as the spring structures shown in U.S. Pat. No. 450,698 issued, 1891, for an invention of Saunders; the stays show on U.S. Pat. No. 325,280 issued, 1885, for an invention of Smadbeck, et al., and the brace structures, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,441,677 issued 1923 for an invention of Golden. In addition, strap structures are shown in substantially rigid athletic shoes such as ski boots and ice skates, as shown in French Patent No. 827,130 published Apr. 25, 1938, for an invention of Selinger. Finally, it is known to provide an ankle support from a spring material and rising vertically from the sole with a cut out over the ankle bone for a tall shoe or boot as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 534,179 issued Feb. 12, 1895 for an invention of Sessler. While the foregoing patents show generally the use of stays, springs and straps to more firmly hold the foot in a given position, restrain excessive motion, or provide additional support, they do not provide optimal structures in face of the above competing demands.